Time For Change?
“Things do not change, we change.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
We so often spend our lives wishing that things change, do we not? We wish our jobs would change, we wish our friends would change, we wish our lot in life would change. We wish for so much that is totally out of our control. And, when all is said and done, all the change that may take place in the externals of our lives will not matter one iota if we do not change within.
Henry David Thoreau makes a statement that sums up a great truth: Things do not change, we change. A rock is always going to be a rock. A river is always going to be a river. A fish is always going to be a fish. But us? We have the unique opportunity to change in a number of ways. Oh, sure, we will always be people. But the kind of people we will be is completely up to us.
There are those who lament that others have made them to be a certain kind of person. That is not true. No one can change us. Nothing can change us. No external force can change us. The only agent for change is our very self. If we decide we are going to be crabby, unfriendly, and unhelpful, well, by God, we will be curmudgeons. We could be those gloomy kinds of people even in the best situations possible. It all depends upon our attitude.
Conversely, we could be friendly, outgoing, and patient people even though the world around us may be negative and our lot in life may be questionable at best. Again, it all depends upon our attitude.
We are in the third week of the Easter season. We have been celebrating the resurrection of the Lord for a number of days now. Hopefully, the joy of Easter has done more than crept into our hearts. Hopefully, we have allowed the joy of Easter to invite us to change. How can we be the same people knowing that Jesus died for us and rose from the dead? Doesn’t that knowledge invite us to become better ourselves? Are we not called to make the world better by what we say and do?
We have the wherewithal to effect great change in ourselves and in our world. It all depends upon our attitude.
FAITH ACTION: Examine your life and determine what changes you may need to make in order to be more like the person you feel God is calling you to become.